How Many Steps a Day Do You Need to Lose Weight?

Staying active is key to good health, and fitness trackers and smartwatches have become popular tools for monitoring physical activity. But how many steps should a person take daily to lose weight?

Staying active is key to staying healthy, and fitness trackers and smart watches have become popular tools for monitoring physical activity. But how many steps should a person take each day to lose weight?

According to Ambassador Arjan, experts say that there is no one and the same answer for everyone about the appropriate amount of walking for weight loss.

Although the number of walking 10,000 steps a day is often repeated, research shows that even taking 4 to 10,000 steps a day can have health benefits.

Focus on minutes of activity instead of steps

Although there is no exact evidence about the number of steps needed to lose weight, experts recommend that people do about 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week.

This amount is at the lowest level about 22 minutes and at the highest level is 45 minutes per day.

We know that to lose weight and keep it off, you really need to get to that higher level (more time exercising).

To actually see weight loss, you'll need to exercise more at a moderate to vigorous intensity, but it's not yet known exactly how many steps a day that equates to.

Why is tracking steps still useful?

Even without a one-size-fits-all perfect step count, a fitness tracker or smartwatch can still help people lose weight.

These types of devices can really help us monitor activity and set goals.

Long-term monitoring of activity may also provide clues about heart health. In a study of nearly 16,000 working-age adults in Japan and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers looked at step counts recorded by smartphones over about two years.

People who logged more steps generally showed better changes in weight, waist circumference, HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) and triglycerides (a type of blood fat). For each additional 1,000 steps taken per day, men lost about 317 grams and women lost about 181 grams over two years. On average, weight loss and waist circumference began at about 7,500 steps per day, rather than gradually increasing.